We’re back for another round of ESL Pro League with the 20th season, which kicked off on Tuesday, Sept. 3, seeing a massive 32 Counter-Strike 2 teams come from far and wide compete for the lion’s share of a $750,000 USD prize pool.
BLAST Premier points are also up for grabs here, but eyes will be on Malta this month as this is set to be the last Pro League as we know it in this format. ESL, among the other big Counter-Strike 2 tournament organizers, will be adjusting their events for 2025 and beyond thanks to the open circuit change-up.
MOUZ has won the previous two editions of EPL—can the European squad make it three in a row? Here’s everything you need to know about ESL Pro League Season 20.
ESL Pro League Season 20 format and teams
ESL Pro League Season 20 features one of the most in-depth formats in modern Counter-Strike, featuring a huge 32 teams battling through four groups of eight over the course of two weeks. Each group features a “triple” elimination bracket: The two teams from the upper bracket final, the middle bracket winner, and the lower bracket winner all progress to the playoffs.
Each match is best-of-three. The winner of the upper bracket starts the playoffs in quarterfinals, meaning there’s everything to play for in the earlier stage of the tournament. The loser of the upper-bracket final begins in the final 12, while the middle and lower-bracket winners start in the round of 16.
The playoffs are single-elimination, so a successful group stage means teams skip a huge chunk of the final bracket. Here are the CS2 teams participating in ESL Pro League Season 20.
| Group A | Group B | Group C | Group D |
|---|---|---|---|
| FaZe Clan | Team Spirit | MOUZ | Team Vitality |
| FlyQuest | MIBR | BIG | FURIA |
| HEROIC | The MongolZ | Complexity | Team Liquid |
| Lynn Vision | KOI | Fnatic | RED Canids |
| NAVI | G2 Esports | Astralis | Virtus.pro |
| Ninjas in Pyjamas | 3DMAX | M80 | ENCE |
| Eternal Fire | 9z | Imperial | Falcons |
| Sangal Esports | Wildcard | Rooster | ATOX Esports |
ESL Pro League Season 20 schedule and results
Playoffs
All match times are in Central Time (CT).
Tuesday, Sept. 17
- 6am: HEROIC 2-0 VP
- HEROIC win 13-8 (Ancient).
- HEROIC win 13-6 (Dust 2).
- HEROIC proceeds to round of 12 vs. MIBR; VP is eliminated.
- 6am: BIG 1-2 MongolZ
- BIG win 22-19 (Ancient).
- MongolZ win 13-11 (Nuke).
- MongolZ win 13-9 (Mirage).
- MongolZ proceeds to round of 12 vs. Eternal Fire; BIG is eliminated.
- 9:15am: Spirit 2-0 FURIA
- Spirit win 13-9 (Nuke).
- Spirit win 13-11 (Anubis).
- Spirit proceeds to round of 12 vs. Imperial; FURIA is eliminated.
- 12:30pm: FaZe 0-2 Complexity
- Complexity win 13-10 (Anubis).
- Complexity win 13-9 (Dust 2).
- Complexity proceeds to round of 12 vs. Liquid; FaZe is eliminated.
Wednesday, Sept. 18
- 6am: Eternal Fire vs. MongolZ
- Winner proceeds to quarterfinals vs. Vitality; loser is eliminated.
- 6am: MIBR vs. HEROIC
- Winner proceeds to quarterfinals vs. M80; loser is eliminated.
- 9:15am: Imperial vs. Spirit
- Winner proceeds to quarterfinals vs. NAVI; loser is eliminated.
- 11:30am: Liquid vs. Complexity
- Winner proceeds to quarterfinals vs. G2; loser is eliminated.
Thursday, Sept. 19
- 9:15am: M80 vs. TBD
- Winner proceeds to semifinal; loser is eliminated.
- 12:30pm: Vitality vs. TBD
- Winner proceeds to semifinal; loser is eliminated.
Friday, Sept. 20
- 9:15am: NAVI vs. TBD
- Winner proceeds to semifinal; loser is eliminated.
- 12:30pm: G2 vs. TBD
- Winner proceeds to semifinal; loser is eliminated.
Saturday, Sept. 21
- 9:15am: TBD vs. TBD
- Winner proceeds to grand final; loser is eliminated.
- 12:30pm: TBD vs. TBD
- Winner proceeds to grand final; loser is eliminated.
Sunday, Sept. 22
- 10am: TBD vs. TBD
- Grand final (best-of-five).
Final standings and prizes
Here is the prize pool distribution and other rewards for placement at ESL Pro League Season 20.
| Placement | Prize ($USD) | Team(s) |
|---|---|---|
| First | $170,000 | TBD |
| Second | $80,000 | TBD |
| Third | $45,000 | TBD, TBD |
| Fifth | $32,000 | TBD, TBD, TBD, TBD |
| Ninth | $23,500 | TBD, TBD, TBD, TBD |
| 13th | $17,500 | TBD, TBD, TBD, TBD |
| 17th | $12,000 | MOUZ, RED Canids, Sangal, 3DMAX |
| 21st | $7,000 | Astralis, ATOX, Falcons, Fnatic, Ninjas in Pyjamas, FlyQuest, 9z, Wildcard |
| 29th | $3,500 | Lynn Vision, KOI, Rooster, ENCE |
Group Stage
Group A – Sept. 3 to 8
Tuesday, Sept. 3
- 6:30am: FlyQuest 0-2 Eternal Fire
- 6:30am: Lynn Vision 0-2 NAVI
- 9:30am: FaZe 1-2 Sangal
- 9:30am: HEROIC 1-2 NiP
Wednesday, Sept. 4
- 9:30am: Sangal 0-2 Eternal Fire
- Eternal Fire qualifies for playoffs.
- 9:30am: FaZe 2-0 FlyQuest
- FlyQuest falls to lower bracket.
- 12:30pm: NiP 0-2 NAVI
- NAVI qualifies for playoffs.
- 12:30pm: HEROIC 2-1 Lynn Vision
- Lynn Vision falls to lower bracket.
Thursday, Sept. 5
- 12:30pm: NiP 1-2 FaZe
- NiP falls to lower bracket.
- 12:30pm: Sangal 2-1 HEROIC
- HEROIC falls to lower bracket.
Friday, Sept. 6
- 9:30am: FlyQuest 2-1 Lynn Vision
- Lynn Vision is eliminated.
- 9:30am: FaZe 2-0 Sangal
- Mid bracket final. FaZe qualifies for round of 16.
Saturday, Sept. 7
- 6:30am: FlyQuest 0-2 Sangal
- 9:30am: NiP 1-2 HEROIC
- 12:30pm: Eternal Fire 0-2 NAVI
- Upper bracket final. NAVI qualifies for quarterfinals, Eternal Fire qualifies for top 12.
Sunday, Sept. 8
- 6:30am: HEROIC 2-0 Sangal
- Lower bracket final. HEROIC qualifies for top 16, Sangal is eliminated.
Group B – Sept. 3 to 8
Tuesday, Sept. 3
- 12:30pm: KOI 0-2 G2
- 12:30pm: MIBR 2-0 9z
Wednesday, Sept. 4
- 6:30am: Spirit 2-0 Wildcard
- 6:30am: MongolZ 0-2 3DMAX
Thursday, Sept. 5
- 6:30am: KOI 0-2 MongolZ
- KOI falls to lower bracket.
- 6:30am: Spirit 1-2 MIBR
- MIBR qualifies for playoffs.
- 9:30am: 3DMAX 1-2 G2
- G2 qualifies for playoffs.
- 9:30am: 9z 2-0 Wildcard
- Wildcard falls to lower bracket.
Friday, Sept. 6
- 6:30am: MongolZ 1-2 Spirit
- MongolZ falls to lower bracket.
- 6:30am: 3DMAX 2-0 9z
- 9z falls to lower bracket.
- 12:30pm: Wildcard 2-0 KOI
- 12:30pm: 3DMAX 1-2 Spirit
- Mid bracket final. Spirit qualifies for round of 16.
Saturday, Sept. 7
- 6:30am: 9z 0-2 MongolZ
- 9:30pm: 3DMAX 2-0 Wildcard
Sunday, Sept. 8
- 9:30am: MongolZ 2-0 3DMAX
- Lower bracket final. MongolZ qualifies for top 16, 3DMAX is eliminated.
- 12:30pm: MIBR 0-2 G2
- Upper bracket final. G2 qualifies for quarterfinals, MIBR qualifies for top 12.
Group C – Sept. 10 to 15
Tuesday, Sept. 10
- 6:30am: MOUZ 2-1 Rooster
- 6:30am: Fnatic 2-1 Astralis
- 9:30am: BIG 1-2 Imperial
- 12:30pm: Complexity 0-2 M80
Wednesday, Sept. 11
- 9:30am: Rooster 0-2 BIG
- Rooster falls to lower bracket.
- 9:30am: Complexity 2-0 Astralis
- Astralis falls to lower bracket.
- 12:30pm: MOUZ 0-2 Imperial
- Imperial qualifies for playoffs.
- 12:30pm: M80 2-0 Fnatic
- M80 qualifies for playoffs.
Thursday, Sept. 12
- 12:30pm: Fnatic 0-2 BIG
- Fnatic falls to lower bracket.
- 12:30pm: MOUZ 0-2 Complexity
- MOUZ falls to lower bracket.
Friday, Sept. 13
- 9:30am: Rooster 0-2 Astralis
- 9:30am: BIG 2-1 Complexity
- Mid bracket final. BIG qualifies for round of 16.
Saturday, Sept. 14
- 6:30am: Fnatic 0-2 MOUZ
- 9:30am: Complexity 2-1 Astralis
- 12:30pm: Imperial 0-2 M80
- Upper bracket final. M80 qualifies for quarterfinals, loser qualifies for top eight.
Sunday, Sept. 15
- 6:30am: MOUZ 0-2 Complexity
- Lower bracket final. Winner qualifies for top 16, loser is eliminated.
Group D – Sept. 10 to 15
Tuesday, Sept. 10
- 12:30pm: RED Canids 0-2 VP
- 12:30pm: Liquid 2-0 ENCE
Wednesday, Sept. 11
- 6:30am: Vitality 2-0 ATOX
- 6:30am: FURIA 2-1 Falcons
Thursday, Sept. 12
- 6:30am: ENCE 1-2 RED Canids
- ENCE falls to lower bracket.
- 6:30am: Vitality 2-0 FURIA
- Vitality qualifies for playoffs.
- 9:30am: Liquid 2-0 VP
- Liquid qualifies for playoffs.
- 9:30am: ATOX 0-2 Falcons
- ATOX falls to lower bracket.
Friday, Sept. 13
- 6:30am: VP 2-1 Falcons
- Falcons falls to lower bracket.
- 6:30am: FURIA 2-1 RED Canids
- RED Canids falls to lower bracket.
- 12:30pm: ATOX 2-0 ENCE
- 12:30pm: VP 2-1 FURIA
- Mid bracket final. VP qualifies for round of 16.
Saturday, Sept. 14
- 6:30am: Falcons 0-2 RED Canids
- 9:30pm: FURIA 2-0 ATOX
Sunday, Sept. 15
- 9:30am: RED Canids 0-2 FURIA
- Lower bracket final. Winner qualifies for top 16, loser is eliminated.
- 12:30pm: Vitality 2-1 Liquid
- Upper bracket final. Winner qualifies for quarterfinals, loser qualifies for top eight.
ESL Pro League Season 20 streams: How to watch
ESL Pro League Season 20 will be streamed live on Twitch and YouTube. If you missed the action, you’ll be able to catch up on the day’s play with spoiler-free VODs available on their respective channels. The matches will also be broadcast in other languages: See the event’s Liquipedia page for every available stream.
